johnson 15 horse water exit?

where exactly is the water supposed to exit on an 85 johnson 15 horse? Im not sure if mine is pumping water correctly.

My '76 one doesn't have a tell-tale. Does yours have a pee-hole? Underneath the powerhead casing usually.

yes it has the pee hole, coming out there fine, cold water. It also comes out in the two places the picture shows. the small hole stays cold and flows solid, the second spot has only a little water coming out it seems but is warm.

The small hole is simply a drain hole for the entire leg for when you trailer the boat to keep from having any freeze in there.

The series of holes above the anti-ventilation plate are exhaust gas holes, however, cooling water also exits there too when you are running it on muffs. It is warm because it has passed through the thermostat and powerhead where as the pee hole that comes out the side is tapped into the the cooling water prior to the thermostat . Same happens through the prop as well as the exhaust port on the upper rear of the leg just under the cowling in terms of outputting warm water with the exhaust.

wmk0002 said:

The small hole is simply a drain hole for the entire leg for when you trailer the boat to keep from having any freeze in there.

The series of holes above the anti-ventilation plate are exhaust gas holes, however, cooling water also exits there too when you are running it on muffs. It is warm because it has passed through the thermostat and powerhead where as the pee hole that comes out the side is tapped into the the cooling water prior to the thermostat . Same happens through the prop as well as the exhaust port on the upper rear of the leg just under the cowling in terms of outputting warm water with the exhaust.

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well I have something not quite right then. I have only a tiny bit of water coming out of the holes above the anti-ventilation plate, no water from the prop or the exhaust port, a good stream from the pee hole, and a stream with enough pressure to shoot 2 or 3 feet from the drain hole. this is the case when the muffs are on, cant figure out a way to see where water is exiting if i run it in a tub.

On my old 74' The pee water as it were came out on the rear of the shaft just under (maybe 6") where the hood met the leg. It would spit or spray water out, never a tell tale stream.

Hope I'm explaining this in a way you can visualize.

starting to sound like Ive got a restriction somewhere. guess I will start at the bottom and work my way up. I will start by pulling the t stat and force water/air through the water pickup tube from the pump and see if there is flow.

Crazyboat said:

On my old 74' The pee water as it were came out on the rear of the shaft just under (maybe 6") where the hood met the leg. It would spit or spray water out, never a tell tale stream.

Hope I'm explaining this in a way you can visualize.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the exhaust, same with mine. I'd pull the lower unit off and check there are no busted up impeller pieces in the water tube. Did you change the impeller already?

He already said it is peeing well, Pappy.

I put in a new water pump, and had to clean the overboard indicator outlet and hose due to being clogged. I ran the motor with muffs for a good 15 minutes maybe a few more more, and the motor never even got warm enough to be uncomfortable. that is what has me puzzled. essentially there are 3 places that should normally allow exhaust and water to exit, and I'm not really getting water out of any of them.

so just for the sake of conversation, how/why would water be coming out the drain hole with such force only when running?

doc1976 said:

so just for the sake of conversation, how/why would water be coming out the drain hole with such force only when running?

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So..when the motor is not running there is no water being pumped..with muffs and not running I dont think water will make it there.

I didnt read all the post but I think that hole on the front of the lower drains the shift shaft chamber and the lower. Some water makes its way to the drain hole when motor is running. none when motor is not running. The holes on the back of the lower is where most of the water leaves the motor..so same reason here.

If that is what you are referring to.

Edit..I think I might have read your post wrong but anyway..The water tube has a hole in it that sprays water into the mid all the time when its running. Cold or hot.

Check out leeroy's outboard site. There is a cooling system diagram somewhere there. If you hadn't yet that is...

yeah found leeroys site, lots of good info there. I would not be nearly as concerned about things if I was getting water out of the correct places(prop, exhaust relief. etc) which I should be getting. the boat is not quite ready for the water yet, so It will have to wait for a test on the water. I guess I will just wait and see.

There are youtube videos of other 15hp engines running on the hose. Don't see much coming out the prop on either of these and for all of the engines I have run over the years there simply is not much coming out there on a 15hp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjlxAanNl6Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr3yqLpIo10

I think Pappy has it right. If you have a blockage the head will be too hot to touch in short order once you run it on the lake.

Did you actually look to see if there was a thermostat in the motor? It is hard to get to. I know some people take them out and run without them and they will never warm up. You can get away without running a thermostat in the summer with hot water in the lakes but when it gets colder you need the thermostat. I have an 85 15hp evinrude. No water comes out the hole under the cowling in the rear. Big huge stream out the small round hole in the rear of the foot, a little comes out the holes above and the prop. Sounds like you have a motor with no thermostat in it.